Dec 11, 2012

Cake pops made lighter by using a box cake mix, egg whites and fat free Greek yogurt – no oil, no butter required!

Today is my daughter Madison's 3rd birthday!

She is having a little birthday party in school and I was asked to bring something that wasn't too messy, so I thought cake pops would be perfect! But then I remembered lollipop sticks and 3 yr olds aren't such a great idea, so after thumbing though the Bakerella Cake Pops book for ideas we decided on cake balls that look like little cupcakes.

Cake pops are all the rave thanks to the very talented Bakerella, but using the traditional method of crumbling the cake with frosting adds a lot of calories to each pop. The only way to make them lighter is by using a cake pop pan, rather than the original method; it's quicker and easier too! I tested out my lighter cake box recipe to see how they would turn out, and it worked like a charm!

I played around with a few cake pop pans and machines out there and realized they are not all created equal. After testing out a bunch of them, I had huge success with the Nordicware cake pop pan, which is only about $16 at Target.

Now be warned, these are FAR lighter than traditional cake pops, but they are dipped in chocolate, which will add up if you eat a lot, so you'll still need some self control! Dark chocolate, of course is the healthiest option, but for color purposes today I went with white chocolate. Candy melts (available at Michael's) were used for my daughter's cake balls.

Combine all the cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat until combined. Place the batter into a pastry bag or large ziplock bag with the tip cut off.

Pipe the batter into the prepared cake pop pan and bake about 18 minutes (I rotated the pan after 10 minutes to be sure they baked evenly). Let it rest 5 minutes before opening the pan.

Place cake balls on a wire rack and repeat with remaining batter. Using a scissor, cut the seam off the balls.

Refrigerate the cake balls for about 45 minutes, this helps the chocolate stick to the cake.

Melt some of the chocolate in the microwave according to package directions, careful not to burn the chocolate. Insert the tip of the stick into the melted chocolate, then into the cake ball (this helps hold the stick in place).

In batches, melt remaining chocolate. Dip the cake pops into the chocolate, let the excess drip off then place stick on a styrofoam block about a minute, then add sprinkles on top if using.

Makes 48-50 balls.

*I weighed the chocolate on each ball to calculate the nutritional info. Although the recipe calls for 48 oz of chocolate, not all of it will be used, but you will still need to buy extra so you have enough to coat the cake balls. I calculated 0.4 oz of chocolate on each cake ball.

Such a cool recipe. whenever I bake cakes or cupcakes (which really only happens a couple of times a year) I do like to use the Greek yogurt substitution. Why didn't I think to do the same with cake pops?

Hmm...I was with you up until the cutting off the seam part :P Seems like a lot of work - esp for 48! No matter...I'll keep it in the back of my mind. I've made some the original way, but that was before I was a WW - don't want to think about how many calories they were! :)

I too have found that the inexpensive NordicWare cake pop pan from Target works best. I haven't needed to "cut off" any seams though. Maybe I'm just lucky. Thank you, I've been wanting a "skinny" cake pop recipe.

I make cake balls by making a cake, crumbling and then mixing with frosting, then shaping into balls. Those are cake balls. There is a difference between cake balls and cake pops. These are just cake on a stick basically. Not the same (although I'm sure they taste great).

I did this a couple years ago as an experiment and i liked them more than the full fat ones. I didn't use a cake ball pan (because they didn't exist) so I used either liquor or preserves as the binder for the cake to make them into balls. The lemon cake/raspberry preserve ones were tasty, but looked like meatballs when they were undipped. The dark choc cake/peppermint schnapps ones were amazing.

Everything about this post is adorable! And the cake pop pan looks amazing, I've always wanted to try getting the perfect-looking cake pops that Bakerella makes although I don't think I'm nearly as creative!

I've made a lot of cake pops but I've never used a cake pop pan. I'd love to try it someday and to be able to make healthier versions of cake pops with less difficulty. I'll have to try and pick up a pan the next time that I go to target.

I've been loving Starbucks peppermint chocolate cake pops for the holidays. I'm guessing you could revise this and use chocolate cake with a drop of peppermint oil or some extract and then also dip in white chocolate?

Wow! I never would have thought of this!!! But with a toddler and lots of toddler friends, we're always being invited to something that involves cake and ice cream. I wonder if I could offer to bring some of these lighter calorie ones to the party for those of us wanting to eat healthier ;) The cake pop pan idea is genius!!!!

I really want one of these :-) More so for making doughnut holes, than cake pops. Cake pops are fun to make too. I made caramel apple ones with my daughter over her Thanksgiving break. We did it the old fashioned way though. Crumbling the cake & adding the frosting.

Happy Birthday to Madison! Your cake balls look very fun and festive. I know they were enjoyed by all her friends. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I am going to try to find the pan and give this idea a try for our holiday get together!

Wow she's 3 already?!? Time sure flies when your having fun huh. My little girl is turning 6 next mth and this looks like the perfect thing to do for her little birthday class party too. Although I bet I'd need lots of trails before I got the hang of it. Your look amazing LOVE it so pretty & yummy. Happy Birthday again to your little cutie and thanks for the chance.

Oh my goodness, these look delicious and I love that they are made with Greek yogurt. I used Greek yogurt in waffles but never thought to use it in cake mixes. So excited to try these for my girls. Thank you.

Hi, I am such a fan of your blog, this recipe is another one of your great ideas! I hope I win the giveaway; my son in the Army and he just got back from Afghanistan, he'll be home for Christmas, yay! It would be so fun to make these for him.Happy Holidays to you and yours!

I always wanted to make cake pops, but the huge amount of calories always stopped me. Your version sounds so much better and I like the balls sitting in the little paper cases. So I would love to win the pan.Thanks for offering one pan to your faithful readers.Love, Nessie

We can always count on you Bravo. I have had the regular ones and found them very sweet and not a good thing for WW lol. I thank you for all the wonderful recipes here. You are the best and your little girl is gorgeous. Hugs

First...your daughter is just precious, and Happy Birthday to her. I have so been wanting to make these and don't have a pan, and mostly didn't know which one to purchase. Thanks for all your tips! I would love to win this pan and book!!!

You make this look so easy to do. I may try this for a Christmas party this weekend and make some for my DS 1st birthday in February. Wonder if they would freeze well if I make them ahead of time? BTW Happy Birthday to your DD!

This post came at a great time - my mother in law wanted a cake pop pan for Christmas, so now I know what kind to get her! Secondly, this recipe comes at a great time so I have a better alternative than the oh so tempting ones at Starbucks!

These look great! My sister started working for a bakery and their cakepops are divine, but loaded with calories (and frosting!) on the inside. These are a great alternative, especially for my daughter's 3rd birthday, coming up on the 23rd!

This is absolutely perfect! I love cake pops but the thought of how much frosting is usually added... *shudders* and I experienced major failure the one time I tried to make them haha.I'd love to have one of those pans!

Oh I love the idea of adding greek yogurt for some zing! I found this crushed chocolate peppermint bark at trader joes over the weekend. A little goes a lot way with that so I wonder if you put a tiny bit in the batter and half dipped in dark chocolate how that would work out.

I found that this made far fewer than 48-50. Perhaps you are an excellent bowl scraper, but I made about 40 from the recipe. I'm also finding that I will definitely use less chocolate than listed, as well. So I'm thinking the points will just about even out. Great job Gina! Without you I would either have more jiggly parts round my middle or be miserable eating real diet food!

Okay, so I've searched through all the comments, and apparently I am the only one having this issue. I am not a baker... AT ALL, but this seemed like something even I can handle. The problem I'm having is with the chocolate. I used 11oz bags of Ghirardelli white chocolate morsels. I melted one bag at a time. The chocolate did not melt down thin enough for me to coat the pops. They would get stuck in the chocolate. What am I doing wrong??